The present invention relates to autonomous semantic software agents (ASSA), and more specifically, to the design, implementation, testing and simulation of autonomous software agents via Semantic Web technologies and standards.
The Semantic Web (e.g., “Web 3.0”) is an evolutionary stage of the World Wide Web (i.e., “Web” or “W3”) in which automated software can store, exchange and use machine-readable information distributed through the Web and in turn enable users to deal with the information efficiently. Unlike the first generation of the Internet, the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) has developed key Semantic Web standards prior to development of related technologies. The development of these standards has led to an increasing use in knowledge management applications unrelated to Semantic Web activity. Semantic metadata are data intended to describe other data by capturing the meaning of the thereof. The metadata are formally structured and specified by description in formal logic so that software agents can automatically understand and process the metadata. Software agents are intelligent software components which typically work autonomously to aid human users in decision making and performing actions in different domains.
It is desirable to have software agents which are based on the Semantic Web technologies and standards, and enable these agents to make use of ontologies and semantic rules to thereby provide more efficient machine reasoning and autonomy.